Franchise Newcomers Who Actually Stole The Show

We live in the era of the Hollywood franchise. For better or worse, most new movies or TV series these days are judged by studios on their potential to spawn more — sequels, prequels, spin-offs, you name it. Adaptation has come to dominate the industry, as it guarantees a certain set of pre-existing fans. After all, what is a movie without a streaming series tie-in and an adjacent anime movie set a hundred years earlier?

A big part of why franchising works so well is that audiences like seeing their favorite characters return in new contexts. Just look at "Star Wars," where every CGI Luke Skywalker cameo or reference to the Clone Wars gets a rousing response from fans online. You show up to see your favorites, but they're not always the ones who steal the show. Sometimes, a newcomer arrives to an established franchise and quickly becomes the new star.

Such instances are rare. It's always hard — and not always wanted — for a new actor to carve out space in a longstanding series. But when it does happen, that fresh face can breathe new life into a story that was at risk of becoming stale. Here are some franchise newcomers who actually stole the show.

Horror movies are often good candidates for sequels, remakes, reboots, and spin-offs. It's a genre that allows for a healthy level of copy-pasting, and the most famous franchises in the genre have been running for decades. However, the trend generally plays out the same: The first movie makes a big impact, shakes things up a bit, and then gets progressively watered down in each successive sequel until the franchise hits rock bottom.

The "Predator" franchise never quite sunk to the direct-to-video tier of truly fallen horror franchises, but it had a rough stretch after the original, landmark Arnold Schwarzenegger film. "Predator 2" has fans but was reviewed poorly, "Predators" seemed like a return to form but failed to fully rejuvenize the franchise, and "The Predator" bombed hard. But then we got "Prey."

Technically a prequel but more of a soft reboot, "Prey" takes everything great about the original "Predator" and amplifies it with gorgeous cinematography and the best character writing in the whole series. And it's all anchored by a star-making performance from Amber Midthunder. Walking into such an established franchise this late in the game as a young actor is no easy task, but Midthunder's performance as Naru is so captivating and real that many declared "Prey" the best entry in the entire series. Even getting thrown into the same tier as such a beloved classic is a feat that easily earns Midthunder the title of show-stealer.

Ask any fan of the "X-Men" movies what their favorite scenes from the series are. Most likely, they'll mention the early moment in "X-Men: First Class" when Magneto confronts the Nazis who killed his mother and tortured him as a child. The face-off in the bar conveys so much about this younger version of the character — his fierce conviction, his desire for justice, and his willingness to do anything in defense of his people and his cause.

Stepping into a role that Sir Ian McKellen played for a whole trilogy is no easy feat. The man has literally been knighted for his cinematic contributions. And yet, Michael Fassbender is just as spellbinding in the role. He instantly commands attention in "First Class," and the entire reboot segment of the "X-Men" franchise works because his young Magneto is so captivating.

In a film full of recastings — many of them, like James McAvoy's Charles Xavier, quite good — Fassbender rises head and shoulders above the crowd. He even stands his ground in "Days of Future Past" when the original actors get blended in with the new ones. All in all, this is about as show-stealing as you can get when playing the younger version of a beloved character, played by an equally beloved actor. 

"Captain America: Civil War" was a huge moment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for several reasons. It provided a climax to one of the MCU's original three trilogies, adapted a beloved comic book storyline (albeit with some major changes), and brought in more characters to a single movie than any prior entry outside of the actual "Avengers" films. To top it all off, "Civil War" introduced two new characters who went on to play major roles in the rest of the franchise: Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman).

Both are great in their debut film, providing some fun new energies to the existing ensemble. But it's Boseman's T'Challa who really carries the emotional weight of the story. It's his uncontainable thirst for vengeance and justice that anchors the plot, and he makes it clear from the jump that he can go toe-to-toe with any of the Avengers. Even though this is his first movie, T'Challa gets a full character arc here, and Boseman asserts himself immediately as a true star.

After such a stellar debut, anticipation for the standalone "Black Panther" movie rose to incredible heights. It's one thing to make a splash, but it's another thing to sustain that success, and Boseman's first leading turn in the MCU yielded one of the franchise's most beloved and financially successful entries to date. Due to Boseman's death in 2020, he only appeared in four MCU movies. It's a testament to his immense talent and presence that we still consider him one of the main stars of the franchise.

"The Matrix Resurrections" is somewhat polarizing. Of course, that wasn't exactly a new thing for the franchise when the fourth film premiered in 2021. Each entry since the original "Matrix" has had both supporters and detractors, but "Resurrections" received particular scrutiny because some saw it as an unnecessary addition to a completed trilogy.

Regardless of how you feel about the movie as a whole, it's hard to deny that newcomers Jessica Henwick and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II absolutely kill it. Abdul-Mateen had a particularly tough job as the new actor for Morpheus — a character played so definitely by Laurence Fishburne in the original trilogy that he's become an indelible part of pop culture history. Abdul-Mateen had to play a completely different version of Morpheus while also keeping all the things that made him iconic in the first place. Somehow, against the odds, he pulled it off.

Jessica Henwick's job was a bit simpler, as she plays an entirely new character in "Resurrections," but she still steals most of the scenes she's in. The focus of the film still sits squarely on Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), but Henwick brings a dynamic energy as Bugs that makes the whole first half of the movie work. Look no further than fellow newcomers Jonathan Groff and Neil Patrick Harris to see that it's not so easy to show up late to a franchise and totally nail it.

There were already a number of beloved, memorable Jokers before Heath Ledger took on the role in "The Dark Knight." Cesar Romero played a goofy but iconic version in the old Adam West "Batman" TV series. Mark Hamill had been voicing the character in animation for well over a decade by 2008. And of course, one of the most acclaimed actors of all time put his spin on the role when Jack Nicholson co-starred in Tim Burton's 1989 film.

Ledger's performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" became so ubiquitous that people often forget that history. But it's important to remember just how high of a bar there already was. Ledger was generally seen as a heartthrob actor, and many fans were outraged when his casting was announced. Yet, the second we saw him on the screen, all semblance of that doubt vanished. Today, most don't even remember the backlash that Ledger received at first.

It almost feels weird to include Ledger's Joker on this list because it's become so much more than a character. It's a meme — a performance so definitive and unique that it immediately spawned widespread parody and mimicry — but not because it was bad, quite the opposite in fact. Not even an esteemed actor like Joaquin Phoenix could overshadow Ledger's Joker.

Depending on your definition of the word, you might not count Emma D'Arcy as a newcomer to the "Game of Thrones" franchise. After all, they play the leading role in the second of only two series. But when you take into consideration the real history of the HBO titan, D'Arcy's show-stealing performance becomes even more impressive.

For a decade, the entire world of television revolved around "Game of Thrones." Everyone was watching it, and every other show wanted to be it. Plus, roughly half of the main characters now sit firmly in the TV pantheon — names like Jon Snow, Arya Stark, Daenerys Targaryen, and Tyrion Lannister. That alone would be a tough act to follow, but it became even tougher after the utter catastrophe that is "Game of Thrones" Season 8 was released. Never before had a TV series blown so much goodwill so quickly. That put the pressure on even harder for the successor, "House of the Dragon," to hit a home run.

Fortunately, HBO got Emma D'Arcy. Since Milly Alcock plays a younger version of Rhaenyra Targaryen in the first few episodes of Season 1 (quite well, at that), D'Arcy really only had a short span of time to capture the audience. And they did it as if it were the easiest thing in the world. In less than a whole season, D'Arcy asserted themselves as one of the definitive stars of the franchise, right up there with Peter Dinklage and Gwendoline Christie.

Joining the "Star Wars" franchise as a new character is never easy. Just ask Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen, Ahmed Best, Daisy Ridley, or half of the other actors who've ever popped up. The fan base — or at least a vocal minority of it — is notoriously fickle, and cameos from old characters often go over better than introducing new ones.

The second that Ray Stevenson steps into the frame as Baylan Skoll in the first episode of "Ahsoka," however, any doubt washes away. The late actor steals every scene he's in as the imposing former Jedi, bringing a gravitas and conviction to the role that's unmatched in most of the franchise. His monologues are powerful. His lightsaber fights are thrilling. And perhaps most impressively, he creates a character out of Baylan unlike any we've ever really seen in the main "Star Wars" universe.

Only in stray comics, novels, or the old Expanded Universe can you find this kind of character — a titan with his own moral compass who stands decidedly in the middle of the dark and the light. The only bad thing about Baylan Skoll is that Stevenson will never get to play him again.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a TV show more ardently adored than "Avatar: The Last Airbender." It's more than the defining kids' show of a generation, it's a fantasy epic that many would put alongside the likes of "Harry Potter" or even "Star Wars." In fact, people love "Avatar" so much that it made things difficult for the sequel series, "The Legend of Korra." Many viewers struggled to accept such a different kind of show, but there are a few things that all fans of the franchise can agree on, and one of them is Zaheer (Henry Rollins).

The lead villain of "The Legend of Korra" Season 3, Zaheer is an anarchist, a philosopher, a lover, a deranged criminal, and the franchise's first evil airbender all rolled into one. He's the kind of bad guy who you root for one moment, then regret ever rooting for the next. But no matter how violent or unbalanced he becomes, his core goal of rooting out institutional corruption remains a laudable pursuit. Does he lose himself completely on the way there? Sure, but that only makes him more fun to watch.

Most fans put Zaheer in the top tier of villains across both "Korra" and the original series. Season 3 of "Korra" is also widely viewed as the high point of the show, and that's largely because it has the best bad guys. Rollins is fantastic in the role, asserting himself as one of the franchise's true stars.

Dame Judi Dench was not the first actor to play M in the "James Bond" franchise, nor even the second. She entered the series with 1995's "Goldeneye." But when you think of M, you probably think of Dench, and not just because she played the role so recently.

With her in the driver's seat, M became a fully formed character — far more than the glorified boss that Bernard Lee and Robert Brown's versions were before her. It's hard to steal the show in a franchise that revolves around its titular character, and yet, M commands attention every time Dench appears on screen, and not just because she's running MI6.

All of the core "Bond" characters have been recast multiple times over the years, from Q to Felix Leiter. But no role has a more definitive version than Dench's M. Sure, most put Sean Connery at the top of the 007 heap, but there are plenty of fans who'd put Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig over him. Ask them about M, however, and you're likely to hear a single resounding answer. It's telling that "Skyfall," arguably the most universally acclaimed entry in the entire series, is as much a movie about M as it is about Bond himself. In Hollywood, that's what they call the Judi Dench Effect.

Has there been a bigger breakout Hollywood star of the 2020s thus far than Jenna Ortega? The young actor had been in the industry for years by the time she truly broke out, but her work mostly revolved around the Disney Channel and other less-visible productions. In 2022, though, she exploded in fame, appearing in back-to-back horror hits with A24's "X" and the half-reboot, half-sequel "Scream."

It's the latter film that earns Ortega a spot on this list. Though it might not be quite as prestigious as some older horror franchises from the 1980s, "Scream" is about as big of a name as the genre has had in the last 25 years. To show up in a supporting role and completely steal the show that deep into a series is hard, to say the least. But in short order, Ortega established herself as a mainstay of the franchise, reprising her Tara Carpenter character for 2023's "Scream VI." Beyond just that, she made herself known as a rising star in Hollywood, and in the brief time since, her profile has only continued to increase.

There was no real precedent for the fandom that developed around the original "Star Trek" series. Though the show itself only lasted for a short time, it remained immensely popular throughout the '70s and '80s. That lingering appeal convinced Paramount to commission a series of theatrical films starring the original cast. But as those stars grew older, it was clear that the future of the franchise would rest on a big gamble: a whole new show.

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" is the reason we're still getting new shows and movies today. It affirmed that Gene Roddenberry's intricate sci-fi universe could thrive even without the likes of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Credit for the show's success is due to many different people, but perhaps no one more than Patrick Stewart, who took on the potentially dangerous job of following in the footsteps of Captain Kirk.

The fact that there will always be a Kirk vs. Picard debate is a testament to just how instantly good Stewart was in the role. He delivered an entirely different kind of Starfleet leader, but an equally captivating one. In many ways, Stewart's classical acting style set the tone for what "The Next Generation" would be. Even today, fans are asking for more of Jean-Luc Picard's stories to be told, and their wish was granted with the 2020 series "Star Trek: Picard." 

The "Fast and Furious" franchise is no stranger to show-stealing newcomers. Sung Kang's Han Lue was such a huge hit in "Tokyo Drift" that the entire series timeline was retconned to keep him in the picture. And the saga might never have reached its global blockbuster heights if Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson hadn't brought his star power to "Fast Five." But on a more recent note, 2023's "Fast X" saw a couple of new actors make big splashes — namely, Alan Ritchson and Jason Momoa.

Momoa's contribution is pretty self-explanatory. His Dante Reyes character is arguably the most memorable villain the series has ever had, and his chaotic energy is easily the most fun part of the movie. Like Johnson, Momoa is also an actor who can actually compete with the more established stars in terms of sheer presence.

But the more surprising star turn comes from Alan Ritchson. The "Fast" saga newcomer absolutely steals the show in "Fast X" despite playing a relatively minor character. Of course, Ritchson's Aimes character turns out to be more than he seems at first, which hopefully means more of him down the line. The rising star has continued to make a name for himself in recent years on shows like "Titans" and "Reacher," but his part in "Fast X" really shows what a great movie star he could become.